Dehydrator



R; J. 'RrrcHlE Sept. 9. 1924.

DEHYDRATOR Filed July 25. 1923 2 Shasta-Shen 1 a. Il.'

Fas/1 BY l A T ToR/VE y R. J. RITCHE DHYDRATOR Sept* A9 i924.

" lFiled Jul o y 25. 1923 2 Shun-Shoot Z, $7. A.2.

ooooooooooo O 90 A@00000/0000000000000 Patented Sept, 9, 1924 .L

UNITED STATES BUSH 2J. nrrcmn, or KANSAS CITY, MIssoURi, AssiGNon or CNE-'HALF rornnN-K srinKnRi/IAN, CFCREENWICH, CONNECTICUT. v

DEHYDRATOR.

Application filed July 25,

T aZZ 'whom zt may concer/n Y Be it known that-I, RUsH J .",R1Tcr[m, a citizen of the United States, residing at Kansas City, in the county of'Jackson and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Dehydrators; and I do declare the following tobe a full, clear, and-exact description lof-the invention, such as will `enalole others lskilled inthe art to which itv appertains to make and use the same, reference being had tothe-accompanying drawings, and to the figures of reference marked thereon, which form apart of this specification; Y This invention relates to dehydrators and the primary object` of the invention 'is to provide a highly efficientV Ydehydrator especially'adapted for vegetables, fruits Vand berries. f 'Y 20 v The principal object of the invention is to' provide an evaporator in which the vegevtable matter, such as vegetables, fruits and berries, can be blanched to cause itv to give up its moisture and then be subjected to an evaporating heat to dry it.v By first H blanching the vegetable mattery to Aopen vthe pores thereof and allow the escape of moisture, and then closingthe pores by the application of heat, the treatment'will provide a 3o highly efficient product in that it y will not spoil as readily as vegetable matter which hasnbeen treated withheat alone insuch a manner that only thepores close so as to confine the moisture within the pulp.

The `novel construction of. vmy invention will be clearly yunderstood by reference to the following description in connection with the accompanying-drawings, in which "F ig. 1 is'a'vertical, longitudinal, sectional .tel view through a dehydrator constructed in accordance with my invention. f

Fig. 2 is a plan view ofthe steam heated radiator for supplying' the heat.

Fig 3 is a cross sectional view through the body portion of the dehydrator, and Fig. l is an enlarged, perspective,"sectionn al view of a fragment of'the radiator.

The dehydrator is shown ascomprising a casing 1 which may have suitable inlet doors appropriately supported. The bottom 2 of the casing is provided with a plurality of smallfair openings 3,'through which air may pass to be directed'through the various shelves and chiots on .the interior of the 6i` casingfl andlescape' through the top outlet y-hausts at the other end through a pipe 10.

-and'below the perforate loafiie'12. VThe kforate bale is-'spaced from thesides 13 and trolled by the damper 5f.'

1923. Serial.*No.'1653,649.V

4 controlledby a -damperf5. "The outlet 4' carriesV a pipe or casing 6 'in' which an eX- hauster fan may be provided if desiredto induce the flow through thecasinglz-V Abovethe bottom 2 isaheat radiator`7, supplied by fluid, for 4eXalmplefsteam, 'Y through the-pipe 8, the pipe 8j-beingcontrolled by a valve 9. The pipe 8 entersone end of the radiator and the radiator eX- The pipe S carries a transverse pipell;

The pipel 11'is "located above the radiator 7 14 ofthe casing. Between the-ends of the `loaflle 12 and the walls' 13,. and 14 are vertically inclined baffles'r 15 and' 16 which incline inwardlytowardthe top andJat theiry edges they are provided with walls 17 andi-18 to form flues of progressively decreasing effec-- tive'oross sections.- `The flues 15-,and16 haveV depending,'inward1y disposed, lower ends'19V land 20to direct the heat from the radiator into the flue proper and between the iiues 15 and 16 I have shown two rows of shelves 21'and 22. The shelves are inclined from the respective ends toward the centerr in an upward direction and theirouter` edges communicate with lthe iiues.` The inner edges are supported'in'vspaced' relation to provide a central flue 23 `through' which the heated gases may pass. Thegase's-niay"'pass through the openingh'the flow'ibeing con- .The lshelves v are formed-of' frames .having a screen'` or reticulated.materal;V There ,is an important reason *for inclining the screens inwardly and'y upwardlyi If they were in'a'hoiizontal position heat would pass directly throughthe setsoffscreens 21 and 22 from'the top to the .bottombut by inclining' them upwardly and inwardly, the heatedv gases" will pass through the fiues formed bythe baflles 15v andj1`6'and1fiow between `the shelves and over and: under the material to be treated so that/the gases will enter the verticalflue orpassageway 23 and all of the vegetable matterwill have uniform treatment.

16 are ofprogressively decreasing areafrom the bottom toward the top. 'n

IThe heat unit therefore beingproperly Vproportioned `and in` order to maintain the top of theV dehydrator atthe sainetemperaf This is due to the fact l l 'that the lues formed" by the baffles 15 'and 105 ture as ythe bottom I provide the tops of the iues 15 and 16 with inwardly disposed ends or flanges 24 and 25 in spaced relation with the top 26, and since thebaties 15 and 16 are spaced away from the sides lof the casing, it will be apparent that some of the hot gases will pass between the baliies and the walls 13 and 14 and flow. alongthe under side of the top to the opening 4. In this manner the zone ,surrounding the shelves will `be maintained atl a uniform temperatmf@- I Certain kinds of material should be blanchd; that is, it should be steamed to causelthe pores to open so that when heat is/applied, the moisturecan be caused to pass of from` the material to be treated. In order to provide forthe ,blanching of the material I admi-t steam to the pipe 11 which causes considerable humidity in the casing.

l.,Y enough. to .open the pores of the material to be treated. Then the steam is cut orf andthe heat allowed to evaporate or dehylarge heat radiating surface.

tirate fromlthe material under treatment,

It will be apparent that a device constructed in accordancewith my invention is simple, rugged and effective and that the ymoisture can be preliminarily driven o l before the actual drying takes place.

It is a characteristic of vegetable matter that when under treatment, if the pores .are opened by the application of steam and then closed. by hot air, they cannot be subsequently opened to take in Vmoistureunder ordinary conditions. l0f course, they will take up moisture when water is applied but they k-`will not take up moisture from the air.

Therefore, the vegetable matter will be preserved for a long time.

The heat radiator per se is not new. It has been used in other connections but I nd it highly adaptable 'for use in connection with a device constructed in accordance with my invention since a construction such as shown iny Fig. 4 provides a relatively I do not claim the particular construction of this device as a heat radiator but only in connection with opening in the top of the casing.

my invention.

What I claim and desire to ters Patent is:

l. A dehydratonlcomprising a casing, a

secure by Letlsteam radiator in the bottom lof the casing,

a steam pipe exterior of the radiator and con- 'netted thereto, a steam pipe connected to the rst named pipe and extending into the casing., a horizontal partition above thek steam radiator and above the pipe withinthe casing, vertical partition walls spaced from opposite sides of the casing inwardly and upwardly, and rows of shelves within the casing, the rows being spaced centrally of the casing to provide a space in line with the 2. A dehydrator, comprising a casing, a

opening in the top of the casi-ng, the vertical partition `walls having inwardlyinclined ends. y y v. 4 e

3. A dehydrator, comprisinga casing, a steam radiator inthe bottom of the casing, a steam pipe exterior of the radiator andconnected thereto, .a steam lpipe connected to the first named pipey and extending into lthe casing, a horizontal 'partition above tliestealn 1 yradiator andabove the pipe within thecasing, vertical partition walls spaced fromfopposite sides of the casing inwardly and lipwardly, and rows of shelves within the casing, the rows being spaced centrally of Ithe casing to `provide a-.space line'with the `opening in the top of the "casing, the veri tical partition walls having inweuidlyy inclined ends, the upwardly inclined ends being disposed toward the center off-thecas# ing to direct products ot` combustion along the top of the casing ytoward the center outlet opening.A

4. .A dehydrator, comprising a casing, hav-y ing inlets atthe bottom andan outlet at the top, a steam radiator in the bottom of `the casing, an inlet pipe communieatingy with the steam radiator, a separate valve con-k trolled pipe connected to the inlet pipeiand lextending transversely linto thecasing above the steam radiator, a horizontal partition above the transverse pipe, havingends terminating short of the side walls of thefeasing, vertical partitions in the casing,l spaced from the side walls ofthe casing and'extend-` ing` upwardly and inwardly, the vertical; partitions having inwardly depending flanges at their ybottoms andy upwardlyv incliningy vflanges at their top, side angeson vthe Averf tical partitions, shelves-between the vertical partitions incliningupwardly vtoward the center, the shelves. being'arrangedgin` two rows, the rows being spaced. apart to form acenter passageway, and. spaces between the shelves communicating with the spaces between the vertical partitions`a-nd-tlie ends of the shelves. l'

5. dehydrator, comprising a casing, having inlets at the bottom and an outlet at the top, a' steam radiator'in the bottoinfoi the casing, an inletpipe" communicating with the steam radiator, a separate valve controlled pipe connected to the inlet Vpipe andv extending transversely into` the casing abovel the steam radiator, a li'orizn'ntal partition above the transverse pipe, having ends terminating short of the side wallso the casing, vertical partitions in the casing, spaced from the side wallsof the casing and extending up wardly and inwardly, the vertical partitions having inwardly depending flanges at their bottoms and upwardly inclinng flanges at their top, side flanges on the vertical partitions, shelves between the vertical partitions inclining upwardly toward the 10 center the shelves being arranged ink two rows, the rows being spaced apartto form -a center passage Away, spaces between the vertical partitions and the ends of the shelves, and a damper for valving the out- 15 y 

